News Archives - Troika

Diamond Mountain hopes to build a diverse and sustainable 800-home Glenmore community rather than acreages, but some at City Hall feel dust & odour could get in the way despite data that suggests otherwise.

KELOWNA, BC— On Monday, March 19, Kelowna city council will vote on whether or not to approve the Diamond Mountain Area Structure Plan (ASP), a new community plan hoping to bring housing to North Glenmore for families of all shapes, stages and scales of income.

With half the nearly ninety hectares being dedicated to natural areas and trails, solar power opportunities, reuse of storm water and environmentally minded design and materials, Diamond Mountain also aims to be “the greenest subdivision in Kelowna.”

“We want to bring to Kelowna a community that’s sustainable, that relieves the city’s affordable housing issue, that fits a real range of residents and families at different stages of life and scales of income,” says Renee Wasylyk, CEO of Troika Management Corp., the developer behind Diamond Mountain property. “If the Area Structure Plan isn’t approved, the property is already zoned for Agricultural 1 (A1) so we would proceed with developing seventeen 10-acre lots that only the wealthy could afford, and the public parks, lookouts and trails would be lost”.

Wasylyk’s concerns stem from a City of Kelowna-commissioned report that explores how the North Glenmore Landfill could cause future odour, noise and dust nuisances in the area.
“What we’re hearing is two different interpretations of the same study,” says Wasylyk. “One interpretation is that there won’t be any additional impact for 100 years, and the other is that the additional impact is significant enough to prevent or at least alter development at Diamond Mountain and the rest of the Glenmore community.”

The former interpretation was previously used to approve the revised fill plan at the landfill. The May 2017 report—Assessment of Potential Nuisance Levels of Odour, Dust, Noise, Light & Litter—shows the 88-hectare Diamond Mountain hillside community planned for North Glenmore as the least affected and completely safe for residents. However, Diamond Mountain’s ASP will be presented to council without the City’s support.

If the city interprets the study as cause to turn down Diamond Mountain, existing communities with plans for future residential development, such as UBCO, could also be impacted.
“We are concerned about the potential impact of the report’s findings on our campus and on future housing development in the surrounding area,” says Deborah Buszard, UBC Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UBC Okanagan. “We believe affordable, mixed housing development in proximity to the campus is in the interest of the community.”

Several subdivisions and neighbourhoods, including those of Quail Ridge, McKinley Landing and Wilden would also be affected by the same nuisances. According to the operation agreement (Operational Certificate 12218), the landfill is required to mitigate any nuisance it creates within its own site, but Wasylyk says that’s not happening.

“The nuisance report’s findings clearly identify that the landfill is not meeting this requirement.”

Troika CEO, Renee Wasylyk has been named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in the entrepreneurial category.

Jobs were scarce when she moved to the Okanagan Valley in the 1990s, so she built her own business. She launched Troika as a development and property management consulting firm and has grown it into a progressive organization with its own commercial and residential development projects and construction companies

We are thrilled to have been featured in the Vancouver Sun Newspaper this weekend! In case you missed the story, Renee Wasylyk, our CEO, sat down with Michael Bernard to discuss West Harbour, one of Kelowna’s most successful lakeside communities.

Renee explained her thought process behind the 250-home low-rise village development in collaboration with the landowner and Chief Roxanne Lindley. Despite the broad demographic, the West Harbour residents are connected by their love of the outdoors. West Harbour certainly fosters a strong sense of community, and Renee also emphasized the relationship to the Westbank First Nation and Troika’s legacy fund, another main attraction to the development. West Harbour also offers many amenities, and additionally, the upcoming Harbour Club is highly anticipated. The third phase of the development will offer 16 duplexes and three different home models, starting at $590,000. Renee could not be happier with the continued success of the community!

The B.C. Government has just announced that it will offer down payment loans to first time home buyers to help with the purchase of homes up to $750,000. The 25 year loan will cover up to 5% of the purchase price for a maximum of $37,500, and is interest free and payment free for the first five years.

What does this mean for BC Real Estate Buyers?

This makes home ownership a little easier for those who can afford their mortgage payments, but struggle to come up with the down payment. The maximum purchase price that qualifies for the loan is $750,000, and with homes starting at $550,000, West Harbour is a great place for you to start your search for your dream home. Contact West Harbour today to see the amazing lifestyle you can afford!

Our very own Renee Wasylyk was nominated by Mayor Colin Basran for the One Bag Challenge. Not familiar? Read about it and watch his original video here. The One Bag Challenge is a twist on the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’, where Kelowna locals are challenged to bring a full bag of food to the Greater Okanagan Food Bank during the month of July, when their supplies are at their lowest.

Renee graciously accepted, and nominated five more people. See who she nominated by watching the video here.

But the fun didn’t end there.

Within 24 hours, Renee received two more nominations: from Kelowna – Lake Country MLA, Norm Letnick, and Kelowna City Manager, Ron Matiussi.

She decided to take the One Bag Challenge to the next level. See what she did here.

In just 10 days, the Greater Okanagan food bank collected 24,000. Congratulations and thank you to everybody that participated!

February 16, 2016 – Kelowna BC – Kelowna-based land and real estate development company, Troika Developments, announced today that engineer Rich Threlfall would be added to the list of partners, adding a new skillset to their already esteemed leadership team.

Threlfall’s breadth of knowledge and experience in sustainable civil engineering and land development has aided Troika in significant growth during his four year tenure as Development Project Manager for the company. “Rich started with Troika as a consultant a decade ago, but became a part of our Troika tribe four years ago” says Renee Wasylyk, Founder and CEO of Troika. “It soon became apparent that we didn’t see the future of Troika without his leadership and presence. Brad Klassen and I decided to bring on another partner for the first time in 10 years. Rich Threlfall is the next generation of Troika”.

Threlfall came to the Kelowna developer via CTQ Consultants Ltd., where he planned and designed communities, parks and public spaces for many local developers, institutions and municipalities, including Troika. Here he played an integral role in the conception and manifestation of Troika’s West Harbour, an extraordinary Tuscan-style waterfront community in West Kelowna. “Rich was instrumental in bringing about our last four successful projects. It was evident that he thought more like an entrepreneurial developer than an engineering consultant.” says Wasylyk. “He understands community.”

A view of Troika’s West Harbour from above.

Having worked with the Troika Tribe in various capacities for nearly ten years, Threlfall admires their forward-thinking nature and commitment to community and their team.

“We are a team dedicated to having fun while building carefully planned and sustainable communities that enhance the daily life of our residents, and that is what sets Troika apart as a developer” Threlfall explained, “I am truly grateful for the opportunity to partner with Brad and Renee to develop and lead a team of passionate professionals, including our colleagues, consultants, contractors and partners.”

The new partnership announcement comes amidst a hiring blitz at Troika, having recently increased their workforce by approximately 10%, due to recent growth and strategic restructuring.

About Troika Management Corp.

Troika is a progressive, future-focused company that brings together designers, contractors, engineers and project managers in a team environment to plan and construct superior housing and commercial projects, while passionately working to maximize community benefit. The company’s projects adhere to the highest standards of sustainability and environmental practices. For more information visit TroikaDevelopments.com

Get to know Renee Wasylyk, CEO of Troika Developments in this issue of Kelowna Now’s ‘In Focus’ column. Renee loves Kelowna, loves her kids, and loves the Troika Tribe! Read the article at http://ow.ly/Yb9Po

Renee is the CEO and Founder of Troika, a Land and Real Estate Development company.

She believes in giving the best start to kids. She supports Breakfast Club of Canada.

She is inspired by her kids.

And she LOVES Kelowna!

From Kelowna Now:In Focus is our gift to the community. A way for us to help show our recognition for the people, businesses and organizations that help make our city great. The team at KelownaNow.com is passionate about this community and the people that make it amazing. We want to show our friends, neighbours, family and colleagues that we notice them and the fabulous things that they do.

In the early days of the Central Okanagan,vehicle traffic, cargo, and passengers coming from down Penticton way had to board a ferry to cross “the narrows,” a natural pinch point in Okanagan Lake to get to Kelowna.
Needless to say, completion of the Floating Bridge in 1952 and the new William R. Bennett Bridge — named after the Social Credit premier from 1975 to 1983 — greatly enhanced the fortunes of Kelowna’s burgeoning agricultural, transportation, and tourism industries and rendered the ferry dock and its ships obsolete. (Interesting historic fact: before the construction of the Floating Bridge in 1952, Penticton and Kelowna were roughly the same size.)
Despite its stunning location just a stone’s throw from Highway 97 and the bridge, this conspicuously vacant piece of land is only now being developed. A brand new marina and beach at the site of the long-since abandoned ferry wharf is part of West Harbour Estates, a 44-acre property developed by Troika, a Kelowna firm, in conjunction with the Westbank First Nations. Conceived as an “exemplary lakefront village,” West Harbour Estates takes advantage of a truly stunning natural location on a flat benchland overlooking the lake, the new William R. Bennett Bridge (very easily accessed from West Harbour) and right up the northern portion of the lake, bounded by the craggy, grass covered hillsides on both sides of the lake.